On the Principle of Motivational Momentum

And a Writing Update

You might not spend as much time as I do thinking about the laws of physics, but you’re probably at least familiar with Newton’s law of inertia: an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force.  This foundational principle is captured in his familiar equation, , although it is more properly expressed in terms of change in momentum: .  Momentum itself is calculated as .  To express it in words, inertia is the tendency of a body to resist changes to its motion, and arises from a combination of an object’s mass and velocity.  The faster an object is going, the more force will be required to change its speed or direction.  The more massive an object is, the more force will be required to change its speed or direction.

There is another statement of momentum with which you may be familiar, although it is not often described in those terms: “if you want something done, give it to a busy person.”  Human behavior has its own kind of inertia, just as objects do, and societies (as expressed in Asimov’s notions of psychohistory).  People who are already busy – that is, in motion – will be inclined to remain busy, and will find it easier to accomplish additional tasks, whilst those who are not busy – that is, at rest – will find it takes more energy to complete even simple tasks, it will take longer, require greater effort be expended.  Doubtless, you have observed this in your own life.  It is in part from this principle of motivational inertia that busy people seem somehow to find the time to accomplish even more.

I do not reflect on this merely because it is interesting, however.  It has been on my mind recently because I have been an unfortunate example of the principle’s power.  Last year, while I was finishing my novel, I was about as busy with my “real” job as I’ve been since…well, pretty much since starting it.  I had a hectic travel schedule, I was working a couple of side engineering projects, oh, and there was that novel I was finishing.  It is tempting to write that, despite that busyness, I found the time to finish Impressions, continue writing book reviews and blog posts, and complete several short stories.  Instead, I should probably write that because of that busyness I was able to accomplish all these things.  Stopping and resting are productivity’s bane.

As if to emphasize the point, my “real” job has since become much less busy.  Indeed, due to organizational changes, I’ve been left with weeks and months on end with virtually nothing to do, professionally, instead spending my days trying to find more scientific papers to read or scrabbling for purchase on any opportunity for substantive work to do.  One might imagine this would mean shorter days, with more energy when I get home to devote to my writing and other hobbies, but instead, the principle of motivational inertia has been dragging at me.  I’ve written less these past few months than I did at my busiest, despite having more time for it.  It is more difficult to find words to put on the page when I sit down after an eight-hour day of doing nothing than it is after a ten-hour day of diligent work.

If my time were wholly my own, the problem would simply be overcoming the inertia of inactivity to acquire an inertia of productivity.  This is something I’ve done before, upon recognizing my ailment, and can be done with just a few days of being strict with oneself.  What hampers me now is the daily enforced boredom and lethargy.  Such is life, at times, and the stoics would accuse me of making excuses based upon things that are outside of my control.  They would be correct, but implementing stoicism is not always so easy as understanding it.  It is a matter of effort and mental conditioning.

Fortunately, I am making some progress in combatting my restful inertia.  Small steps, perhaps, but I can tell my brain is beginning to reawaken from its hiatus.  I am having ideas again, which seemed to have dried up for a time, and that is an encouraging sign.  Each step builds on itself, though the reverse is equally true.  And yes, this does mean that Golems and Kings is delayed, along with starting Rogue Planet.  Aside from sharing the idea of motivational momentum with those of you for whom it may not already be familiar, that was my main reason for writing this post, although I fear it may have devolved into something dangerously close to a complaint.

Now that I’m refocused on Golems and Kings, I would like to finish it not later than the end of the summer, so that I can restart Rogue Planet in September.  I’m also going to be taking a few short stories I’ve written to publish here on the site, so look forward to those in the coming weeks and months.  Consider them a kind of recompense for not writing as much these past few months as I should have been.